Fresh Water Shortage in California

FRESH WATER SHORTAGE IN CALIFORNIA
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Introduction
California has recorded the highest heat records in history in the last two years where 2014 marked the hottest year on record, and the 2014-2015 confirmed to be the hottest winter in history. In March Los Angeles recorded the longest highest of 90- degrees days in 6 days exceeding the 1977 3 days in March California recorded the lowest rainfall in 2013, making it the driest year in the last five centuries. The dry weather has prolonged and its impact is being heavily felt by the state’s $44.7 billion agriculture industry. This will directly affect the price of food especially food that relies on irrigation and large amounts of water supply to produce such as tomatoes, milk and beef. The four year drought has once again exposed California proneness to prolonged and severe drought. California vulnerability has been a concern for the states citizens for many years. Customer survey on water consumers by water companies has in many times indicated the willingness of Californians to pay high fees for their consumption. California’s population is still expanding, stretching even further the demand pressure on water supplies. With the current weather trends, reliability on water supply will become even more difficult. This paper discuses factors affecting freshwater shortage in California, addressing the causes of the draught and possible solutions to the problem.[Samenow, Jason, ''Hot hands: Fingerprints of climate change all over California drought April 2, 2015. Accessed April 27, 2015. Accessed April 27, 2015. /blogs/capital-weather-gang/wp/2015/04/02/hot-hands-fingerprints-of-climate-change-all-over-california-drought/] [Howard, Brian, Report Downplays Role of Global Warming in California Drought: Scientists debate cause of worst California drought in 1,200 years. Accessed April 27, 2015. http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2014/12/141208-california-drought-causes-global-warming-science/] [Ibid]
History
California’s population in 2002 was slightly over 22 million. From recent analysis, statistics project that by year 2030, California’s population will exceed 53 million. The inverse relationship of the locations of California’s population in relation to the main water run-off is a major challenge. Three quarters of the State’s water run off occurs in the North of Sacramento which in far much less populated while the South of Sacramento which has the majority of California’s population has the least water run-off.[Thompton, Don, ''California Water Proposal Would Fine Wasters July 15, 2014, Accessed April 27, 2015. /2014/07/15/california-water-proposal_n_5586581.html] [Samenow, 1]
When the demand for water exceeds the capacity that can be supplied water shortage is inevitable leading to droughts. In order to determine that a certain condition is a drought or not, a subjective approach to analyse the current condition is critical. Drought condition can be referred to as steady occurrence of the condition and more of the impacts on water consumers. Drought can also be defined according to the measurements on the rain gauge as a below average for a prolonged time or by the level or reservoirs. The worst record on drought was in the 1987- 1992 when rainfall gauge recorded lowest for a number of years consecutively and the reservoirs were below average by 70%. Current statistics show that 58% of the entire California state is in extreme drought, while 8.77 experience Exceptional drought. 22.78% experiences severe drought, 4.39% of the region is abnormally dry, 4.27 is moderately dry while only 1.43% is normal.[Howard, 1] [Ibid]
Causes of the drought
From various surveys that have been conducted in regards to establishing the main causes of California’s drought, it has been realised that Sierra Nevada snowpack continues to record the lowest snow level. Natural disaster are also possible causes of drought in a region. Disasters such as wild fires that are common in south California are a good example. An extreme amount of water is used to fight these fires. The substances used in the fire fighting formulation contains toxic metal laced mud, which remains on the ground after fires are contained. In the first rains, the substances are all washed down to the water system, causing further harm.[Ibid] [Thompton]
Current State and the Implications
California has succumbed to its multiyear drought, has dried up most water sources and left farmer with no choice but to leave their land idle. Metropolitan agencies regulating water distribution in most South California districts by mid-2014 had started to implement water supply cutback. Alternative high priced imported water was being distributed during the rationing periods. This was intended to push users to adopt efforts to avoid paying for highly priced water. The delivery limits helped to stretch storage levels for the summer period and meet the 2014 target of reducing water consumption by 25%. This was achieved in early 2015 when an unusually rainy month filed resident’s tanks helping them to cut on state provided supplies. In the January 2015 winter rains, San Francisco did not record any measurable rainfall.[Williams, Dearen, & Dearen, Jason, California Drought Prompts Unprecedented Water Conservation Efforts January 31, 2014. Accessed April 27, 2015 /2014/01/31/california-drought-reserv_n_4706344.html] [Thompton]
Solutions
Water shortage can be sustained so long as solutions are devised and policies put in place to support. The most cost effective ways of dealing with water shortage is water conservation. There are other approaches which are being applied and tried in many parts of the world such as desalination, water reclamation methods, cloud seeding among other methods still being tried to evaluate their effectiveness to finding a solution to draught conditions. Dissemination has been used for a long time to make water drinkable by eliminating substances that make water not safe for drinking and usable for household. The process is done on sea water to elimi...